The present invention relates to network devices and more particularly to a housing structure of such network device with improved characteristics.
Over the past decade there has been a considerable growth in information technology. Particularly, a variety of network devices have been developed and widely employed in our daily life and almost all trades. Such trend of expansion not only increases speed and efficiency of data communication but also brings a great convenience to our life and work. Also, more and more people demand high quality network products. As such, convenient services provided by network products are considered as an indicator of whether information industry of a country is more advanced as compared with other countries in the world.
Typically, each of the various commercially available network devices such as hubs, switches, modems, printer servers, gateways, and ISDNs (Integrated Services Digital Networks) has a housing. In one configuration a plurality of such network devices are coupled to a computer. Hence, a user can operate the computer to access the Internet by means of the coupled network devices. However, it is obvious that such plurality of network devices can occupy a considerable portion of limited space on or around the user""s desk. Further, one network device may have a different size and/or shape from the other. Hence, the network devices cannot be orderly stacked. In fact, they are messy. This can cause difficulty in detecting, maintaining, and managing the network devices.
A commercially available network product having a stackable structure is shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 2. A housing 2 of an electronic device are held by two side brackets 10. The bracket 10 has a section of comprises upper and lower fastening sections 20 and 21, two opposite uprights 23 separated by an opening for connecting the upper and lower fastening sections 20 and 21 together, a U-shaped recess 24 defined by the upper and lower fastening sections 20 and 21 and the uprights 23, at least one fastening element (e.g., tab) 25 on a top surface of the upper fastening section 20 distal from the housing 2, and at least one mating fastening element (e.g., dent) 26 on an underside of the lower fastening section 21. As such, the fastening element 25 of one bracket 10 can be engaged with the mating fastening element 26 of another identical bracket 10 by stacking. Further, there are provided at least one securing element (e.g., two recesses as shown) 27 spaced apart from the fastening element 25 on the top surface of the upper fastening section 20. Furthermore, there are provided at least one mating securing element (e.g., two claws as shown) 28 spaced apart from the mating fastening element 26 on the underside of the lower fastening section 21 distal from the housing 2. As such, the mating securing element 28 of an upper bracket 10 can be engaged with the securing element 27 fo a lower bracket 10. By utilizing this, a plurality of housings 2, 3, 4, and 5 can be stacked by means of the brackets 10.
However, the network product is disadvantageous for being complicated in design, having a plurality of components of different shapes, being difficult to manufacture, consuming more material, and being expensive in manufacturing. All of these contradict the trend of cost effective and high efficiency of the hi-tech oriented society. Thus improvement exists.
An object of the present invention is to provide a network device having a parallelepiped housing comprising a plurality of slots on two opposite sides and two opposite edges at each of an underside and a top and a plurality of pads each fastened the slots. This forms a short distance between a supporting surface and the underside of the housing by the projected pad. Also, housings of the same type of network devices can be stacked or horizontally coupled together by fastening the pads in the slots.